Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel had a fiery response when asked Thursday night whether he would consider running for president in 2020.

The former White House chief of staff to President Obama and senior adviser to President Bill Clinton flipped off consultant Neil Hare — twice — after being posed the question at BLT Steak, prompting laughter from others at the bar.

Emanuel, famed for his coarse language and caustic retorts, was hanging out at the restaurant located blocks from the White House during a swing through Washington this week.

But the mayor isn’t shy when it comes to how he feels about being asked about potential presidential ambitions.

“She’s a reporter,” someone at BLT said after the Chicago mayor gave Hare the bird, referring to your ITK writer.

Senate Democrats are facing growing pressure to break the white male stranglehold on senior staff positions in their ranks — a push that’s uniting consultants and lobbyists inside the Beltway with Black Lives Matter and other minority leaders who are accusing the party of “soft bigotry.”

The attacks are prompting uncomfortable discussions among Democrats even as they welcome their historic Senate freshman class, which includes the chamber’s first Latina and Indian-American members.

Frustrations over the lack of diversity among the ranks of top Senate Democratic aides began seeping into public view after Hillary Clinton’s stunning loss deprived the party’s donors and lobbyists of a critical opening to build on the Obama administration’s minority-hiring efforts. Now, activists are shaming Senate Democrats, noting that the chamber’s only African-American chief of staff works for Republican Sen. Tim Scott. And civil rights groups are holding a public conference call on Thursday to escalate their campaign for more diverse hiring by newly elected senators.

It’s not just the chief of staff disparity — minorities are under-represented throughout the ranks of Senate staffers. African-Americans and Latinos represent more than a third of self-identified Democrats nationwide but hold less than 3 percent of senior staff positions for Senate Democrats, according to a report last year by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) acknowledged that changing the lily-white complexion of the chamber’s staff sparks “an uncomfortable conversation.” But Schatz, who has led long-running efforts to diversify the Senate’s workforce alongside his friend Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), said lawmakers and aides should keep grappling with “frankly, an ugly history in the Capitol” — the storied dome partly built by slaves.

Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump wasted no time punching back the day after Hillary Clinton listed in detail why he could not be trusted to run the economy.

Clinton “is a world-class liar,” Trump said in a June 22, 2016, speech in New York. “Just look at her pathetic email and server statements, or her phony landing in Bosnia where she said she was under attack and the attack turned out to be young girls handing her flowers.”

On that Bosnia trip, Trump picked one of Clinton’s most prominent transgressions. When she made that claim, we rated it Pants on Fire in 2008. Here’s why.

During an introduction to a foreign policy speech on Iraq on March 17, 2008, then-Sen. Hillary Clinton reminisced about her days as first lady and a trip to Tuzla, Bosnia, she made in March 1996.

“I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.”

Requiring employees in the United States to speak a foreign language is not discriminatory but forcing them to speak English violates federal law under a sweeping order issued by the Obama administration to crack down on “national origin discrimination” in the workplace. The government’s new enforcement guidelines state that bilingual requirements don’t meet discrimination claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act but English-only rules do because they’re restrictive language policies.

The administration asserts that the new rules, which cover a broad range of scenarios that could get employers in trouble, were created because the American workforce is “increasingly ethnically diverse.” The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency that enforces the nation’s workplace discrimination laws, made them public a few days ago. “The increased cultural diversity of today’s workplaces presents new and evolving issues with respect to Title VII’s protection against national origin discrimination,” the agency writes in the lengthy document. “This enforcement guidance will assist EEOC staff in their investigation of national origin discrimination charges and provide information for applicants, employees, and employers to understand their respective rights and responsibilities under Title VII.”

Two years ago, the administration laid the foundation for the new measures by suing a private American business for discriminating against Hispanic and Asian employees because they didn’t speak English on the job. The case involved a Green Bay Wisconsin metal and plastic manufacturer that fired a group of Hmong and Hispanic workers over their English skills. Forcing employees to speak English in the U.S. violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the EEOC claimed in its lawsuit. That’s because the Civil Rights Act protects employees from discrimination based on national origin, which includes the linguistic characteristics of a national origin group. Therefore, the EEOC argued, foreigners have the right to speak their native language even during work hours at an American company that requires English.

Now the agency has created official federal rules to support this absurd theory as well as other innovative discrimination categories, including “multiple protected bases.” This is a seldom recognized but potent Molotov cocktail of prejudice based on race, color and religion. As an example, the new rules mention discrimination against Middle Easterners perceived to “follow particular religious practices.” Among the amusing hypotheticals embedded in the rules is an Egyptian named Thomas who alleges he was harassed by his coworkers about his Arab ethnicity and Islam. “Thomas’ charge should assert national origin, race and religious discrimination,” the EEOC writes, referring to its new “multiple protected bases” category. The agency reassures that it will protect Middle Easterners, stating that “Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on the perception that someone is from the Middle East or is of Arab ethnicity, regardless of how she identifies herself or whether she is, in fact, from one or more Middle Eastern countries or ethnically Arab.”

An African-American lawyer and editor of a popular legal website is calling on all black jurors across the country to automatically vote to free any black person accused of murdering or committing a crime against a white person despite the evidence.

Elie Mystal, an editor and contributor to the law blog Above The Law, posted a December 7 article urging all black Americans who end up on juries to engage in “jury nullification” by automatically voting to acquit all blacks accused of crimes, especially that of murder, against white victims and to do so no matter how much evidence is brought to bear against the suspect.

Mystal justified this lawlessness by claiming that “African-Americans live in a world where the police can murder us and get away with it.”

“There is no justice for black people. And yet violently revolting against the system will get us nowhere,” he added.

This, Mystal says, is reason enough to work against the legal system in all areas.

“Maybe it’s time for black people to use the same tool white people have been using to defy a system they do not consent to: jury nullification. White juries regularly refuse to convict or indict cops for murder. White juries refuse to convict vigilantes who murder black children. White juries refuse to convict other white people for property crimes. White juries act like the law is just a guideline and their personal morality (or lack thereof) should be controlling.”

“Maybe it’s time minorities got in the game?” Mystal added.

The legal analyst and lawyer went on to insist that black jurors should refuse to vote to convict any black suspect no matter the crime, including murder, if it is committed against a white person, especially a white man.

Seeming to realize that voting to free obviously guilty murderers based on the race of the victim is a horrendous concept, Mystal insisted that it is the only way to “fix” the system.

Contrary to popular belief, the U.S. Pacific Fleet was not destroyed during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Two of eight battleships, the USS Arizona and the USS Oklahoma, were sunk and deemed unrepairable. The other six battleships were sunk and/or damaged but were repaired, returned to service and fought throughout the rest of the war. The battleship, USS Utah, was sunk during the attack but at the time was used only for training purposes and not considered sea-worthy for combat. She was abandoned and decommissioned. This is the story of American resolve and determination following the Japanese attack.

After a surprise attack that left Americans across the country reeling, the heroes of Pearl Harbor had no time to sit around and take in what happen.

Instead, they got to work repairing the dozens of boats that were sitting ducks for the Japanese air fleet.

The biggest targets for the Japanese were the U.S. Navy’s eight battleships. While two of the battleships were considered a complete loss (the USS Pennsylvania and the USS Arizona, which lays at the bottom of Pearl Harbor) the rest were resurrected and put to work winning the war.

Scroll down to see the 13 ships that were repaired after the attack on Pearl Harbor and how they contributed to the war effort after their resurrection.

USS West Virginia, battleship
Damage during Pearl Harbor: Seven Japanese torpedos to the port side, hit by two bombs, caught fire from the burning USS Arizona and sank to the sea floor.
Repairs: Pumped free of water and patched up so that it could be sent to Washington’s Puget Sound Naval Yard for full repairs
Returned to service: July 1944.
WWII service: The USS West Virginia took part in the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinama and was present in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrendered after the second atom bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.
Decommissioned: January 1947.

USS Tennessee, battleship
Damage during Pearl Harbor: Hit by a pair of bombs and became wedged between its moorings and a sunken ship
Repairs: Underwent two-and-a-half months of repairs in Puget Sound
Returned to service: February 1942
WWII Service: Fought in several battles in the Pacific from Alaska’s Aleutian Islands to Iwo Jima.
Decommissioned: February 1947

USS Nevada, battleship
Damage during Pearl Harbor: Since the USS Nevada was unmoored during the attack, the crew was able to beach the ship before sustaining too much damage. She still sustained six bombs impacts and one torpedo detonation.
Repairs: Taken to Puget Sound for a refit
Returned to service: October 1942
WWII service: Was the Naval flagship during the D-Day operation and was later intentionally sunk in the first atom bomb test at Bikini Atoll, which was considered an honor
Decommissioned: August 1946

USS California, battleship
Damage during Pearl Harbor: Two bomb hits and two torpedo impacts. She was sunk after a three-day effort to keep her afloat.
Repairs: Brought up from the sea floor three months later to undergo a full repair
Returned to service: January 1944
WWII service: Participated in the Battle of Okinawa
Decommissioned: August 1946

Pay-for-play, Korean style. The thing that most aggravated people was that Choi, the buddy of the President, was able to get her daughter into Ewha University, a top school that everyone wants to get into, because of her connections, ahead of many others.

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korean lawmakers on Friday impeached President Park Geun-hye, a stunning and swift fall for the country’s first female leader amid protests that drew millions into the streets in united fury.

After the vote, parliamentary officials hand-delivered formal documents to the presidential Blue House that stripped Park of her power and allowed the country’s No. 2 official, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, to assume leadership until the Constitutional Court rules on whether Park must permanently step down. The court has up to six months to decide.

“I’d like to say that I’m deeply sorry to the people because the nation has to experience this turmoil because of my negligence and lack of virtue at a time when our security and economy both face difficulties,” Park said after the vote, before a closed-door meeting with her Cabinet where she and other aides reportedly broke down in tears.

Hwang separately said that he wanted “the ruling and opposition political parties and the parliament to gather strength and wisdom so that we can return stability to the country and people as soon as possible.”

Once called the “Queen of Elections” for her ability to pull off wins for her party, Park has been surrounded in the Blue House in recent weeks by millions of South Koreans who have taken to the streets in protest. They are furious over what prosecutors say was collusion by Park with a longtime friend to extort money from companies and to give that confidante extraordinary sway over government decisions.

President Barack Obama has directed U.S. intelligence agencies to conduct an investigation into hacking attacks related to the U.S. election and issue a report before he leaves office next month, White House counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco said.

The report, which will be provided to Congress but not necessarily made public, will examine what impact hacking by Russia may have had on the election last month, Monaco said Friday at a breakfast in Washington hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

“We may be crossing into a new threshold and it’s incumbent upon us to take stock of that,” Monaco said. The report will “impart lessons learned,” she said.

Donald Trump is reportedly considering former Mets manager Bobby Valentine to be US ambassador to Japan.

Valentine, a former Major League Baseball player who also managed Japan’s champion Chiba Lotte Marines, is on the short list for the diplomatic post, according to WEEI Radio in Boston, where Valentine, 66, once managed the Red Sox.

Valentine, now athletic director at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., has engaged in discussions with Trump’s transition team, WEEI said. Both Valentine and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe attended the University of Southern California.

He has also worked with Linda McMahon — the co-founder and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment who was just tapped to run the Small Business Association by Trump.

According to WEEI the suggestion to select Valentine was first made by New Jersey governor Chris Christie.

A small Washington state city spent more than $100,000 on three “windmill-like turbines” – but any hopes for big savings appear to be blowing in the wind.

The Peninsula Daily News reported that the Port Angeles turbines, which haven’t yet been turned on, are expected to generate $1.39 per day in electricity, or roughly $42 per month.

The turbines were meant to help illuminate a local park. Now, some city council members are having second thoughts about their unanimous approval for the project.

“I did not realize they would produce so little energy. I wouldn’t have voted for it knowing it was that little,” City Councilwoman Sissi Bruch told The Peninsula Daily News.

Bruch said the purpose of the “designers was to let people see how wind works.” Asked if the intent of the project was to provide a cost-efficient means of electricity, she said it was not the primary reason.

“It is a piece of art,” she added.

The city, though, challenged some details in the newspaper report.

Nathan West, director of Community and Economic Development for the city, told FoxNews.com in an email that daily savings could be as high as $5.44 “at peak windspeed” but cautioned that “determination of actual benefit in dollars at this time would be speculative because the spires are not yet operational.”

He also defended the city’s investment in the turbines, saying: “[T]he City did not purchase these spires for the purpose of energy creating infrastructure but rather as a park element. There are however many other thoughts that went into the decision making regarding purchase of the spires.” He said they add to a “positive aesthetic” in the park and “symbolize energy creation.”

The city council voted in October 2015 to approve $107,516 out of a total $285,952 county funding grant to purchase the turbines from Urban Green Energy.

While they were supposed to be turned on two months ago, a dispute over safety inspection of the project has resulted in delays.

The electricity that is produced would be used to power 31 lights in the newly built Waterfront Park.Keep reading…

Senate Democrats are about to get rolled on Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks. They could spend years in the minority. And instead of the GOP collapse that many expected on Nov. 8, it’s now Democrats soul-searching about what went wrong.

But as Harry Reid prepares to leave the Senate this month after 34 years in Washington, he says everything is just fine with his party, thank you.

To hear Reid tell it, the party’s electoral collapse wasn’t a result of poor messaging or even a bad candidate. It stemmed from looser campaign finance rules, FBI Director James Comey and the influence of a few powerful individuals — namely the Koch brothers, his long-running nemeses. The outgoing Senate minority leader is unapologetic on behalf of his party, and remains resolute that Democrats don’t need to chart a new political course after their 2016 debacle.

“They have Trump, I understand that. But I don’t think the Democratic Party is in that big of trouble,” Reid said in a half-hour interview with Politico on Wednesday, one day before he’ll deliver his farewell address. “I mean, if Comey kept his mouth shut, we would have picked up a couple more Senate seats and we probably would have elected Hillary.”

And Reid not only refused to admit any misgivings about invoking the “nuclear option” for most nominations — a move that’s backfiring now by empowering Republicans — he predicted it’s just a matter of time before the filibuster is done away with altogether.[…]

Reid predicted that the 60-vote filibuster threshold for legislation and for Supreme Court nominees will ultimately disappear altogether — calling it a natural evolution of the chamber.

The rules are “going to erode, it’s just a question of when,” Reid said. “You can’t have a democracy decided by 60 out of 100, and that’s why changing the rules is one of the best things that has happened to America in a long time. It’s good for us, it’s good for them.”

Thursday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” Milwaukee County, WI Sheriff David Clarke said the entire phenomenon of so-called “fake news” began in 2014 with the “hands up, don’t shoot” claim of the August 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO.

Clarke called it a “lie” and said it had been propagated by many mainstream media outlets.

“It’s the anniversary of that fateful summer night in August of 2014 that started with the ‘hands up, don’t shoot’ lie that was propagated by every mainstream liberal media across this country,” Clarke said. “The New York Times, The Washington Post, the LA Times, the Chicago Tribune, CNN, MSNBC all propagated that ‘hands up, don’t shoot’ lie. It was from that time forward that this concept of fake news was talked about.”

University of Maryland (UM) students were distressed and demanded an apology after the school’s president stood up for illegal immigrants, and used the Spanish language to do it.

The incident occurred Tuesday night, when UM president Wallace Loh delivered his annual state of the campus address. During his speech, Loh took a moment to defend illegal immigrants who attended the school, and used both English and Spanish to do it.

Echoing other university leaders around the country, Loh said UM would bar immigration officials from campus unless they had a warrant, and would refuse to share any student information with the government unless required to by a warrant or subpoena.

But after his speech, Loh found himself under attack by students during a question-and-answer period. According to The Diamondback, sociology student Ashley Vasquez asked Loh whether he would apologize for delivering part of his address in Spanish, which she said “does not represent the entire immigrant community here.”

Loh ignored Vasquez’s initial complaint, only to be hit a second time by a different student, who also asked for Loh to apologize.